- Fun Facts:
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I live in San Francisco, which has a great music scene. I also love biking and exploring city streets on my road bike.
The Bay Area and California have an endless number of outdoor activities, camping sites, beaches, and hiking trails to discover. I am most happy when I am in a natural environment.
What initially drew you to apply to work at Medallia?
After some time abroad, I moved back to San Francisco and was seeking employment. A friend of mine who worked at Medallia encouraged me to apply. Her description of the atmosphere was incredibly appealing—it truly sounded like a dream job.
What other opportunities and fields were you considering?
I was considering a position in an entirely different field at the UC Press and taking contract work in content control at Apple iTunes.
Why did you ultimately choose Medallia?
I was attracted to the small size of the company—20 people at that time—and interested in getting into the tech industry. I grew up in the Bay Area—most of my family and friends are in tech.
How has your experience measured up to your expectations? What surprised you or has surprised you over time?
The camaraderie has really surprised and inspired me. The team is more of a family—we support each other and truly care about each other’s wellbeing. Individuality, creativity, and passion are encouraged, which means work is a place where you can be yourself. Getting to know my colleagues on a personal level has made working together a delight.
How does your experience at Medallia compare to your friends’ experiences in other jobs?
Landing a job at Medallia doesn’t just get you a great career—it also puts you on a great career path. If you are driven and show initiative, you can go anywhere in the company. My friends who work for some of the larger tech companies in the Bay Area have been plugging away at the same role for years without being given more opportunities. Their positions and departments are rigidly defined and do not provide occasion to assume other responsibilities that may be of interest.
I, on the other hand, started at Medallia as user support and office support, and from there was able to carve my own path. User support allowed me to learn our product—with zeal I investigated every possible issue and scoured the system for a solution to every request. A colleague recognized my eagerness and felt the correspondence I was having with the end users was on par with the type of communication that was required for a customer service role. In Client Services, I gained a lot of hands-on experience configuring our highly customizable product. I was interested in the complexity of our product and learning the ways in which it could be implemented, so I continued my journey on the Engineering team as QA. I loved being part of the development process and having my feature design suggestions taken seriously. The skills and insights I gained in each position led me to my current role as project manager. I would not have been able to grow at the company without the continuous support and encouragement of my colleagues and the management team.
How would you describe your responsibilities at Medallia?
As a project manager, I facilitate projects through the development process. I act as the intermediate between the product team and development team, coordinating everything that needs to happen to deploy a feature on time and successfully. My favorite part of the position is performing User Acceptance Testing, which allows me to make the little design adjustments that ensure the end users the best possible experience.
What was your job prior to Medallia?
I consider this my first professional job, though leading boat tours in southern Thailand was an amazing gig.
What is the best thing about working at Medallia?
Day to day, the office is never dull. It’s truly an exciting and fast-paced place to work. We have a quick turnaround time for deployments, and a growing backlog of features, which come out steadily and rapidly—I love being part of the process. The Engineering and Product team is especially collaborative. If your ideal work atmosphere is isolated in a cube working on tasks doled out by management, this is not a place for you. Many decisions are discussed as a team, and much of my day is spent huddling around a coworker’s computer or whiteboard.
How would you describe Medallia to your friends? What would you want them to know about Medallia?
The people are really fantastic—never a dull moment in the kitchen or hallway. It’s a diverse bunch of people, which makes for a really interesting workplace and has a lot of benefits for our work as well. There are a lot of opportunities to express our individuality. We have conference rooms decorated by employees in the style of different countries that represent our nationalities, and happy hours almost every week that are voluntarily led by employees. We are a very smart and motivated group of people, which is inspirational. I work hard not because my boss expects me to, but because my team does.
